How to support your body in pregnancy.
If you Google “How to support your body during pregnancy” you will find the general: Eat healthy, take prenatal vitamins, stay hydrated, go to your prenatal appointments, avoid alcohol/caffeine/smoking and certain foods, and get active.
This general advice is great, however, there are some more targeted things you can do to help your body feel even more support during pregnancy. It is the little things that we are doing everyday that can often be tweaked to change our overall wellbeing.
Here are 8 tips to support your body even more during pregnancy.
If your work is desk based and you are sitting for hours at a time, then simply don’t do this anymore. The pregnant pelvis is not meant to be in a sitting position for a long period at a time, as this will increase stress on the ligaments and muscles. Also womb movement is reduced while sitting and standing compared to laying down, so while a standing desk offers an alternative, standing for long periods is also not ideal as it also brings other stresses. Set an alarm every 30 minutes and switch it up: sit, stand, lay down for a few minutes, use a saddle stool or a pregnancy ball (active sitting). Your pelvis will thank you at the end of the day.
If you work leaning over a lot consider a Sacroiliac (SI) belt. Depending on your pelvic strength and function before pregnancy, will determine its ability to adapt during pregnancy. Pelvic pain during pregnancy may be due to instability and a lack of strength within the pelvis, this is when a SI belt can help to support ligaments and joints and may lead to reduced pain at the end of the day.
We spend (around) 8 hours in bed! So creating support while asleep is well worth it! Pillow placement really can help; you can use a pillow between your legs while lying on your left side, and hugging another pillow. Some women invest in a pregnancy pillow, which may help from pillows sliding out of position, however some mums find these a little bulky.
Keeping active does incredibly help support the pregnant body, as it helps our minds, pumps blood and lymph around the body, builds strength and maintains good function of the pelvis, which is important for labour. It is a fine line between over doing things and doing enough exercise. This is when it is really important to listen to your body and move in a way that makes it feel good. Pilates, yoga, strength training, walking, swimming, cycling are great to do in pregnancy. Try to stick with what your body knows already.
Going a little deeper than just general prenatal vitamins, looking at supplementing with magnesium, omega 3s, probiotics, Vitamin D, and Iron. All of these are important and need to be increased during pregnancy. Depending on your food source, and which country you are living in, it may be hard to get these from your diet.
Body work: Our bodies are designed to be pregnant, however that doesn’t mean that they don’t need body work in pregnancy. Chiropractic is a great way to help support the pelvis during pregnancy. A report found “75% of pregnant patients who received chiropractic care during their pregnancies stated that they found relief from pain” and the study also showed that regular chiropractic care during pregnancy reduced labour time between 25-31% (1)
Epsom salt Baths and massage: This can be one way to ease sore tired muscles, however be sure to check with your midwife.
Listening to positive podcasts and reading positive books: For some reason everyone loves to talk about the not so great bits about pregnancy and labour, which only brings more anxiety. Try to stay away from Dr Google, listen to your intuition and hang out with positive like-minded people more. Some recommendations are: Positive Birth Australia, She Births, Books: Birth with Confidence- Rhea Dempsey, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering- Sarah Buckley, and books written by Ina May Gaskin
Source: Borggren CL. Pregnancy and chiropractic: a narrative review of the literature. J Chiropr Med. 2007;6(2):70-74. doi:10.1016/j.jcme.2007.04.004